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ER Doctor Warns Young People: COVID-19 Still Dangerous, Practice Social Distancing

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An emergency room doctor is warning young people that COVID-19 still poses health risks while urging them to heed federal guidelines and practice social distancing.

Speaking with Fox News, Dr. Michael Donnino, emergency medicine and critical care physician at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said that while young people will mostly experience mild symptoms of COVID-19, he warned that the minority who need hospitalization will be enough to overwhelm the medical system and take up needed ventilators. He also noted that patients 20-60 are experiencing severe effects of this disease at a higher rate than the seasonal flu.

“So, the virus can indeed cause severe, life-threatening disease for those ages 20-60 without any health problems,” said Donnino. “I believe this is important to understand not to cause excess alarm or panic, but so we can take the proper actions to mitigate.”

Donnino further explained that the COVID-19 pandemic goes beyond just threatening the number of ventilators available, arguing that the problem is further magnified by how long a coronavirus patient needs the ventilator.

“A lot of people want to talk about stretching healthcare resources in the abstract, but I want to share a concrete example of why mechanical ventilation needs threaten to exhaust resources,” he said. “Many patients will likely require prolonged mechanical ventilation — life support — which translates to continued accumulation of patients. For example, if a hospital has a 10-bed Intensive Care Unit, the daily routine is usually to admit a few new patients and discharge a few others.”

“With COVID-19, you keep accumulating more patients each day,” he continued. “So, a 10-bed Intensive Care Unit grows to a 12-bed, 16-bed, and 20-bed. And now, you have to figure out how to create another Intensive Care Unit and figure out how to find the personnel to staff i. And, this problem can continue to grow, threatening to overwhelm capacity.”

“This is why some are calling for field hospitals,” he added.

Further emphasizing the need for people to practice social distancing, the flouting of which could prolong this crisis further, Donnino said that the battle against COVID-19 cannot be won in the hospitals or the Intensive Care Units; they can only be won by cooperation between citizens, government, businesses, and the healthcare industry.

“This battle isn’t going to be won in the emergency department or Intensive Care Unit,” Donnino said. “Don’t get me wrong in that we will ‘hold the line’ as best we can. But, to win this fight, I think that we need an unprecedented partnership between health care providers, [the] health care industry [and] manufacturing, government leaders, and the public.

“Thus, I encourage all Americans to do their part, whether that be helping on the production line for medical equipment or practicing social distancing,” he concluded. “The answer to getting through this is working together.”

Beyond Donnino, other doctors have likewise raised awareness for young people to take the virus seriously, lest they help it spread to more people.

Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and health economist at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, said that young people who get the virus can also spread it much faster than the elderly because they are far more social.

“Young people do get sick, but more importantly they are carriers and get infected just like everyone. And they carry it to more places. They often see way more people… than someone who is older in their homes or a nursing home,” Ding said. “It’s not just age, but risk factors that you have. For example, cardiovascular risk factors, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease, and of course all your lung diseases like bronchitis, asthma… and of course if you’re a smoker, which many young people are.”

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